


There For You

by wolfie_winchester



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-26 07:30:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13852974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfie_winchester/pseuds/wolfie_winchester
Summary: Reyes gets a call in the middle of the night from a distressed Scott, visibly shaken by his last mission and questioning his ability to be the hero the Initiative needs him to be. Reyes doesn't think twice about flying out to him, willing to do anything that might help lessen the heavy burden on the Pathfinder's shoulders.





	There For You

**Author's Note:**

> Set after the Hunting the Archon quest.

It's nearly two in the morning when an annoyingly loud chirp from his omnitool wakes him up. Reyes grumbles, rubbing his eyes and glaring at the device as it announces an incoming call. _Someone better be dying_ , he thinks, wondering who thought it appropriate to bother him at this hour. He reaches out to tap the answer button, pleasantly surprised when Scott’s face appears. He starts to smile and ask what the Pathfinder is doing calling him so late, since Scott is usually mindful of the time difference between wherever he's exploring and the time on Kadara.

 

“Scott. How’s my favorite Pathfinder?”

 

Rather than the playful, flirty answer he's come to expect from him, Scott lets out an exhausted sigh. “I'm sorry. I know it's late there, but... I just... I needed to see you.”

 

The smile drops from Reyes’ face almost instantly and now that he's more awake, he can see that Scott looks absolutely wrecked, and not in the fun way. His hair is all a mess, like he's been running his hands through it constantly. His eyes keep drooping shut for a moment before he forces them open again, and it's easy to tell he hasn't been sleeping well. Worry clogs his throat and he sits up in bed, bringing his omnitool closer like that'll somehow bring Scott closer to him too.

 

“What happened?” he asks.

 

Scott lets out a hollow laugh and Reyes doesn’t like the sound of it one bit.

 

“What _didn’t_ happen?” he says, voice filled with some emotion Reyes can't place. He takes a moment, perhaps collecting his thoughts, before he says, “The mission was a success. Found the map we needed, even managed to save the salarian ark.”

 

“That... that’s good, isn’t it?” Reyes says hesitantly, knowing that there’s got to be more to it than that.

 

“Yeah. But...” Scott shudders and Reyes suddenly wishes he could somehow travel through the screen on his omnitool and end up at his lover’s side. “Reyes... the things I saw. The kett, they... I knew they were bad news, but I didn’t realize just _how_ bad. We’re just... science projects to them. Just things to be dissected and studied.”

 

“They’re monsters,” he agrees, because he doesn’t know what else to say.

 

Scott nods. Swallows hard before looking at him with a mixture of fear and despair. “I don’t know if I can do this,” he admits in a whisper. “Everyone expects me to be the Pathfinder, to bring us home. But... I can’t. I’m only one person.”

 

He sounds on the verge of tears, and Reyes decides that he doesn’t care that it’s two in the morning. He gets up and starts putting on his flight suit. Scott insists that he’s fine, that he doesn’t need Reyes to fly out just because he’s feeling sorry for himself.

 

“Send me your navpoint,” Reyes says, already stepping out into the night.

 

“Reyes-”

 

_“Navpoint sent.”_

 

“SAM!”

 

Reyes smiles a bit despite the situation. He’s starting to like that AI. He hops into his shuttle and sends a quick email to Keema before setting out. She’ll probably get it in the morning, and he trusts her to run things while he’s away. She’s proven that she’s more than capable of being the Charlatan when he’s otherwise occupied.

 

“Scott, are you still there?” he asks.

 

“Yeah. Look, you don’t have to-”

 

“I do. You said you wanted to see me.”

 

He’s expecting another argument, but instead, he just hears silence. For a moment, he thinks Scott has hung up. But a second later, he hears, “Thank you.”

 

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he promises.

 

Scott lets out a relieved sigh, uttering another quiet thank you before the omnitool beeps, signaling the call has ended.

* * *

  
The Tempest is docked at the outpost on Eos, and the sun is bright as it always is overhead when Reyes sets his shuttle down. He still feels a little tired, but he shakes it off. Scott needs him now. He disembarks from his shuttle and heads straight for the Tempest. He contacts the pilot - Kallo, if he remembers correctly - and a moment later he's walking up into the cargo bay. Cora is standing at a stack of crates nearby, a datapad in her hands. He's expecting her to say something about him showing up here, but surprisingly enough, she merely nods at him before returning to her work.

 

He doesn’t question it, turning and heading down to where the Pathfinder’s quarters are. The door slides open to reveal Scott asleep on the bed. Reyes crosses the room quietly, shedding his flight suit as he goes until he’s just wearing the clothes he had on before. He kicks off his boots and then settles on the edge of the bed. The movement barely jostles Scott, but it seems it’s more than enough to wake him, and then some. Reyes isn’t expecting to be blasted across the room by powerful biotics and luckily he doesn’t break anything - bones, or furniture - as he crashes into the desk SAM’s router is sitting on.

 

Scott is breathing heavily like he’s just run a mile and his eyes are darting about the room, searching for a threat. It doesn’t take much for Reyes to conclude that he must have been having a nightmare. When frightened eyes settle on him, still sprawled on the floor getting his breath back, the fear turns to regret and he gets up, rushing over to him.

 

“Oh my god. Reyes, I - I’m so sorry,” he says, helping him to his feet. “I didn’t mean to-”

 

“It’s alright. I’m fine,” Reyes assures him. He walks them over to the bed and Scott all but collapses onto it. Reyes joins him, tugging him close to his side and turning his head to press a kiss into Scott’s hair. “You should be more worried about yourself.”

 

Scott doesn't say anything, just turns into Reyes and presses his face into his shoulder. He takes a deep, shuddering breath and when he releases it, it sounds closer to a sob. Reyes wraps his arms around him, holding him tightly. He can feel how tense the other man is, like he's holding the weight of the world on his shoulders. He supposes that’s true, in a lot of ways. Being the Pathfinder isn’t an easy task, and Reyes doesn’t envy the enormous responsibility of finding a home for humanity. All he can do is be there to support Scott in any way he can, even if it’s something as simple as giving him a shoulder to cry on. Literally, in this case.

 

Scott’s cries are quiet, like he doesn’t want anyone to hear him in such a state. Reyes’ heart hurts knowing how much distress his lover is in, and he wishes he could do more than just rock them back and forth, whispering sweet nothings into Scott’s ear. Eventually, the cries fade and Scott sniffles before leaning back, letting out another one of those empty laughs.

 

“Sorry. I know this is probably the last thing you wanted to be woken up for. It must feel like... what, two, three in the morning for you?” he says, wiping at his eyes.

 

“You needed me, so here I am,” Reyes says, reaching up to brush stray tears from his cheek. He leans in and kisses him gently, one hand sliding around to the back of his neck. Scott pulls away with a pained hiss and Reyes feels stupid for not thinking that Scott might be hurt after his mission. But it’s obvious now, in the grimace on his face and the way he’s reaching back to rub a spot on his neck. “Are you okay?” he asks. It feels useless to say. He’d have to be blind to not see that Scott is very much not okay.

 

“I’m...” He pauses, probably about to say that he’s fine. Instead, he just turns and lets Reyes see the ugly bruise that’s formed around a tiny pinprick at the base of his neck. It looks like a needle was jabbed none too gently into his skin, and Reyes feels a sudden surge of anger at whoever dared to hurt him.

 

“Who did this to you? I will tear them to pieces,” he growls.

 

“I don't think killing the Archon will be that easy,” Scott says.

 

“The... the Archon?” He’s heard the name, of course. He knows a lot about the kett thanks to his dealings with the Resistance, and he knows that in the Heleus cluster, the Archon is one of the most formidable kett leaders. “You... you went up against the Archon?” He knew that Scott was going to infiltrate a kett flagship. He just didn’t think he’d be fighting their leader.

 

“Sort of. He trapped us in an immobilizing field. That’s how he got close enough to give me this little gift,” he says, gesturing to the bruise.

 

“How did you get out?”

 

“I...” he trails off and he looks a little guilty, reluctant to say whatever he’s about to say next. “Don’t be mad.”

 

“I promise I won’t be. Just... tell me what happened.”

 

“I... might have had to die, to get out of the trap. SAM stopped my heart. It was the only way.”

 

“You... died?”

 

For a second, the thought doesn’t even make sense. Scott dying isn’t something he’s even considered a possibility. He knows it’s naive, but he’s always thought of him as this invulnerable, unstoppable force. And yet, here he is, telling him in no uncertain terms that he had, in fact, died. He tries to imagine a life without Scott, and can’t. It’s too painful to even think about.

 

“Reyes?”

 

Right. He should probably say something instead of just staring at Scott. But when he opens his mouth, nothing comes out. He reaches out, places a hand on Scott’s chest, feeling the strong heartbeat underneath. He’d said SAM had stopped it so they could escape the trap. An image pops into his head of Scott, lying on the floor of some kett warship, eyes wide open staring at nothing. He lets out a pained noise and pulls Scott closer, kissing him hard.

 

Scott kisses back, lips warm and wet against his, and Reyes tugs him into his lap, needing to be closer, to feel him alive in his arms. He only pulls back when breathing becomes necessary, resting their foreheads together. They're both breathing heavily, and Scott’s cheeks have gone pink.

 

“I know danger is hard to avoid out there, but please be careful. I can’t lose you,” he whispers into the space between them. He understands that Scott can’t do his job if he’s constantly worried about being safe. Hell, even visiting him on Kadara isn’t safe. With the way things are in Heleus at the moment, it’s almost impossible to avoid running into trouble somewhere. But still, he doesn’t like the idea of Scott dying somewhere without him knowing, even if he’s brought back by the AI in his head.

 

“I’ll be careful. I promise,” Scott assures him. “And don’t worry. I’ve got SAM if anything goes wrong like that again.”

 

“Even so, try not to make dying a habit. There’s only so much my own heart can take,” he jokes half-heartedly.

 

“ _Pathfinder, I concur with Mr. Vidal. While I am capable of reviving you in the event your heart stops, I would recommend you avoid situations that would lead to death.”_

 

“Noted, SAM,” Scott says with a quiet chuckle.

 

It seems like he's feeling a little better now, but he still looks tired. Reyes leans in to kiss him one more time, his touch gentler now before he settles them down on the bed. Scott yawns and Reyes rolls onto his back, letting Scott use his chest as a pillow. He wraps an arm around Scott’s shoulders, and Scott instructs SAM to turn out the lights. The window looking out to Prodromos changes to a star filled night sky, and the room is plunged into darkness, save for the blue light emitted by SAM.

 

“Thank you,” Scott murmurs after a few seconds. “For coming here. For listening.”

 

Reyes squeezes him gently.

 

“There’s nowhere I'd rather be.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Help I've fallen for Reyes Vidal and I can't get up. 
> 
> Reyes' romance storyline is the purest thing in the game I swear. Dangerous crime lord? More like sappiest, cheesiest human in Andromeda. I love that shady bastard.


End file.
